


our hearts are crashing waves (with the strongest tides, we'll drown our sorrows)

by kitsurama



Category: Bleach, Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Dimension Travel, Dysfunctional Family, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, kushina you should not teach children how to bodily toss other children, no matter how much of a little shit the other children are, questionable parenting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-11-28
Packaged: 2019-01-27 01:24:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12570580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitsurama/pseuds/kitsurama
Summary: Kushina Uzumaki died in the Kyuubi Attack, but instead of being sent to the afterlife, she wakes up in Karakura knowing little else but her name. Thank the Gods for scheming shopkeepers and cute, orange haired brats.





	1. Chapter 1

No one could say that even in death, Kushina was anything less than an Uzumaki.

“Poke me with whatever the hell that is one more time, ‘ttebane, and i’ll shove it so far up your ass--”

“Ah, you’re awake finally!” a cheer voice cuts her off, laughing nervously. Kushina cracks an eye open, lips already pulling back in a smile that shows way too many teeth to be friendly. “Seems like it,” she agrees, bitingly.

But the man ignores her, all beaming bullshit hidden behind a fan he pulls out with a flourish. He rocks back on his heels, easily, snapping the fan close as Kushina rises, allowing her to see the grin on his face. She wants to punch it off him, but refrains with a snarl that's two parts teeth and one part agitation.

Everything is foreign, even herself, to a degree, and it’s unsettling. She easily lifts herself up on her elbows, watching curiously at the hair that comes spilling over her shoulders, blood red in the light and pin straight.

There's something bubbling in the pit of her stomach, something peculiar as it feels like a bandage over a wound that never quite healed, but she doesn’t have time to analyze why her hair makes her feel that way.

After all, Kushina doesn’t know what the  _ fuck _ is going on still.

It causes her anger to rise, because something tells her rage is easier to deal with than panic.

(Kushina is in a strange place, not knowing much else besides her name, and all alone except for the presence of a strange, unknown, man--yeah, she can work with that.)

“Who are you? What’da want-- _ and where am I?”  _ she demands, slipping her knees under her and glaring.

“Kisuke Urahara,” the man--Urahara now--introduces himself, beaming before her. “And you’re in my shop, as for what I want, well, it’s not often we get spirits like you popping up.”

Kushina blinked, bemused.

“Spirits?”

“Yep! You’re dead, miss.”

Kushina is quiet for all of ten seconds before she rockets forward, snapping a hand out and tugging Urahara by the shirt until he’s in her face. She’s all teeth and temper and a biting edge. Urahara eyes her, both curious and wary as she snarls in his face.

“Explain.”

  
  
  
  
  


Kushina swears to herself, pacing the length of the room as Urahara eyes her with amusement.

“So you’re saying i’m dead--”

“I thought we moved on from that, but yes.”

“Shut up, ‘ttebane! So i’m dead,” Kushina continues, sending a scathing look at Urahara before resuming her pacing. “But I didn’t go to this Soul Society thing.”

“Correct. Which is fascinating--”

“Keep it in your pants, Hat and Clogs. Tell me what that means, again.”

“Well, you’re not a shinigami, but you do have high spiritual energy which means you can become one. Probably a powerful one. I don’t know why you were sent here instead of the Rukongai, but I guess it might be linked to  _ how _ you died.”

Automatically a hand goes to her stomach and Kushina winces. She doesn’t remember all the details, but she knows something bad happened. There's a flash, something like a claw sliding right through her and the wail of an infant before everything goes black. 

There's also  _ Naruto _ , but Kushina decides to open what that can of worms means at a later date.

“I don’t remember much,” Kushina admits. “But  _ something _ killed me. Maybe it was one of those hollow things?”

Urahara hums. “Possibly.”

Kushina huffs, raking a hand through her hair as she stops, uncertain, and looks over to where Urahara is leaning against the wall.

“So… What now?”

“What do you want to do?” Urahara asks instead, snapping back open his fan. “I’m sure a Shinigami will appear eventually, and you can get sent to the Rukongai if you wish. You could probably get into the Academy and train to become a Shinigami the traditional way.”

“Or,” Kushina asks, eyeing him knowingly.

“Or,” Urahara repeats, playfully. “Stay here and let me train you myself. It’d be nice to have such a fresh, young, beauty like you around.” (The option to become a hollow is left unsaid, but both know she’ll go down kicking and screaming then becoming one willingly.)

Kushina snorts, throwing him a glare for the comment. “Why don’t you tell me the real reason why going to the Soul Society would be a shitty idea?”

Urahara signs. “There's no getting around you, huh?”

“Maybe trusting you is stupid, but something tells me there's something in the Soul Society that’s worse than you.”

“Ouch!” he says, but despite the playful tone there's something serious in his eyes that makes Kushina stand up straighter. It’s a warning and a threat all wrapped up in one sentence. “You’re right that there's something there that’s worse than me. I’d hate for you to fall under his  _ spell _ as well.”

It unravels Kushina’s spine like silk, and it takes everything in her not to shiver at the cold look in Urahara’s eyes. “No shit?” she asks quietly. Something about that warms Urahara’s eyes slightly, and Kushina can breath again. “No shit.”

Kushina sighs, but it’s easy to see in the way she squares her shoulders and lifts her chin that she’s come to a decision.

“When do you wanna get started?”

Urahara smiles.

“How about right now! Oh, and what’s your name again?”

Between one second and the next Kushina’s face twist, and she lunges fast, but Urahara slips to the side with a laugh.

“Uzumaki Kushina, dattebane! Make sure you remember it so you know who kicked your ass!”

The fight only escalated each time Urahara dodged Kushina’s increasingly angry attempts at strangling him, until finally she said  _ fuck it _ and---

There's a yelp, a crash, and part of the wall falls as Kushina slams into Urahara with all the force of a train. The blond goes down, hat flying and fan lost seconds before as Kushina straddles him, pressing his face into the ground.

“Ha!” she crows, and it’s only when there's the sound of a cough does she pause, not caring for the whimpering man below her.

“Oh,” Kushina blinks up at the three in front of her, and it’s almost like she’s a completely different person when she beams at a confused Ururu. “Oh!”

Ururu doesn’t even have time to open her mouth before Kushina is on her, smooshing the girl to her chest as she grins widely. “You’re so cute! I could just eat you up!”

The girls blush deepens, and she stutters, but Kushina pays her no mind. “Hey! Hat and Clogs! Why didn’t you tell me you had such an adorable girl around here?”

Urahara wheezes, using Tessai to pull himself off the floor. “I didn’t---was that really necessary?” he asks, bemused, but Kushina is too busy cooing over Ururu to pay him any mind anymore. 

Not that he’s complaining, mind you, getting tackled through a wall hurt, ex-shinigami or not. 

“What the…” Jinta murmurs, edging away from the two girls, but he’s not quite fast enough to avoid the hand at snaps out and drags him into the cuddle fest.

“Oh! You too! Your hair is just like mine, ‘ttebane!”

“Let go! Ack!”

_ Well, _ Urahara thinks, wryly,  _ it surely won't be boring. _

  
  
  
  
  


It’s three years after Kushina first woke up in Urahara’s shop that she meets one Ichigo Kurosaki. He’s a cute thing, all small with a round face and fiery temper and reminds Kushina far too much of herself.

And there's also the fact he’s getting picked on for his hair.

Kushina takes one look at the scene and it’s like a flood of anger and sadness and  _ hurt _ hits her all at once. She remembers taunts and hair pullers and a small, red haired girl with bloody fists and tears in her eyes as she screams, _ leave me alone, dattebane! I never asked to have tomato hair! _

It nearly drives all the air out of her lungs, and she sucks on her teeth as she pauses mid step. 

(Urahara told her not to get involved too much with the living---even with a gigai it’s risky--but Kushina is much too stubborn and a bleeding heart to boot.

Really, Urahara should have known she’d do what she thinks is right and damn the consequences.)

“Hey, brats! What do you think you’re doing, dattebane!”

The bullies startle, but Ichigo’s still scowling as she bounds up in three easy steps with a grin that’s slightly on the terrifying side of the spectrum. Kushina won’t hurt them, of course, they’re  _ little kids,  _ but she’s not above scaring the living shit out of them.

“Um,” one stutters, the ringleader probably. “We were just playing.” Kushina’s smile widens, showing a bit more teeth. “Bullshit, ‘ttebane! I have eyes, you know! You got three seconds to scat.”

Kushina has never seen a bunch of kids move so fast in her (after)life.

“I could have handled it myself,” Ichigo grumbles, and nearly flinches when Kushina turns her grin on him.

“What was that, dattebane?” she cooes, but her eyes soften a bit, and her grin turns less harsh as she crouches down to be eye level. “I’m sure you could have kid, but you shouldn’t have to. This is what adults are here for, dattebane.”

Ichigo colors slightly, ducking his head with a scowl. But Kushina deals with Jinta on a daily basis, and really, if it came to a battle of stubbornness Kushina would win hands down, so she just grins and reaches out to ruffle his hair without a care.

“Don’t let those idiots get you down, ‘ttebane! Your hair is awesome, orange is such an awesome color!” she says cheerfully, ignoring the offended noise Ichigo makes. “You know, I use to get picked on too, kids use to call me tomato head. At least they did until I kicked all their asses.”

Ichigo pauses, looking up at her carefully. “...Yeah?”

“Yeah!” Kushina says, giving his hair one last ruffle. “I’m Kushina Uzumaki, by the way. You can call me Aunty Kushina, though. Wanna learn how to toss idiots around?”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


It’s a bit of touch and go for a while--Kushina and Ichigo’s tempers are too similar to mix well at first, and they spend half the time arguing. But by the end Ichigo learns the basics to how to toss someone bigger than you over his head, and a promise is made to come back next week to learn more.

Kushina, after a lot of heckling on her part, walks Ichigo home, and it’s only when he turns down his street and tells her that _ damn it, he can walk alone from here, he’s not a baby,  _ that he tells her his name.

“Ichigo, huh.” Kushina muses, stepping into Urahara’s shop quietly.

“Ichigo?” Urahara asks, poking his head around the corner to welcome her back.

Kushina beams, too high on bubbly feeling in her chest to do her best impression of a offended cat like she usually does. “Ichigo Kurosaki, ‘ttebane! He’s this kid I ran into and---”

_ “Kushina,”  _ Urahara says, and her mouth snaps shut as she stares at his too serious expression. “It would be best if you stayed away from him.”

Kushina’s eyes narrow, and she doesn’t hesitate as she hisses.  _ “Why, Kisuke _ .”

Urahara eyes her carefully, and Kushina knows he knows full well to tread carefully when she calls him that, for it’s the calm before the storm that is Uzumaki Kushina.

“Kushina,” he tries again, but the woman stalks forward with a deadly grace, jabbing her finger into his chest. “I. Asked. Why.  _ Kisuke. _ ”

Urahara signs. “You need to listen to me, alright, you need to stay away from him---at least for right now---”

Kushina makes a noise that's part fury and part disappointment. “No,” she says, softly, but Urahara’s face is set, and she steps back, face twisting. “Kisuke he’s not---he’s a kid!”

“In a few years he’ll be our best chance against Aizen, Kushina, i’m sorry--”

“Don’t,” Kushina whispers. “Just don’t.” she stalks past him, slamming her shoulder against his hard enough to bruise. “I’m going to train. Don’t show your face around me unless you want me to carve it up.”

Urahara doesn’t stop her, and she’s grateful, but before she can slam the door behind her he says, “Kushina.”

She pauses, but doesn’t turn around.

“You’re not going to listen to me, are you?”

“What do you think, ‘ttebane.”

Then, she’s gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kushina is a hurricane of a woman on a good day, but she’s a completely different kind of natural disaster when she’s in a bad mood.

For the entire week leading up to her second meeting with Ichigo, Kushina doesn’t leave the training grounds. Much to her equal exasperation and relief, Urahara doesn’t show his face around her in fear of her going through with her threat, and Tessai and Ururu are the only ones brave enough to leave her food. 

Kushina is a hurricane of a woman on a good day, but she’s a completely different kind of natural disaster when she’s in a bad mood.

(Bad mood, Kushina scoffs, try completely and utterly  _ pissed _ .

Child weapons for the greater good? Kushina doesn’t have time or patience for that bullshit. You shouldn’t rely on someone who has no business in your problems to fix them. Children should not have to fight and kill just because someone said it’s their duty. 

Kushina is full of rage and fire and something like a void in her soul sparks a familiar red hot anger and it’s like coming home. This anger is familiar---familiar like a zanpakuto is to it’s shinigami, and Kushina didn’t even know she  _ missed  _ it. 

She wants to burn the Soul Society to the ground for what they’re going to do.

Or just the asshole that’s the puppet master, but Kushina has never been too good at keeping collateral damage to a minimum. She’s destruction in its rawest form, a whirlpool of fire that leads with her fists and doesn’t quite know how to lose. 

At this rate, maybe Aizen should be more scared of the red haired woman than Ichigo himself.

Kushina has no problem going after the fucker while he’s still playing the good guy, after all.)

  
  
  
  
  
  


“Ichigo-kun!”

Ichigo has ten seconds to brace himself before the hurricane known as Kushina Uzumaki sweeps him up.

“Ack! Let me go!” he growls, wiggling, but the red haired womans hold is too firm. Kushina apparently takes great glee in his attempt to escape, because she laughs, delightfully, and squeezes him just a little bit tighter. “You’re twenty years too early to be able to escape me, dattebane!”

Ichigo clicks his tongue, but sags like dead weight in her arms much to her pleasure.

It takes another five minutes of hugging and twirling before Kushina is willing to let him go. Ichigo wonders why he puts up with this strange woman, after all he’s taking karate, he doesn’t need her to teach him to fight. But then he remembers the ease in which she tosses him around, the surefire way she moves like it’s a dance.

“Alright, ‘ttebane!” Kushina starts, clasping her hands in front of her after she finally drops him. “Since you’re too small to toss me around, and we don’t have a conveniently kid sizes dummy for you to throw, you’re just going to have to stick to the theory of that toss for now.”

(Ichigo vaguely wonders if she would let him throw some poor, unsuspecting kid around if they happened to walk by at the wrong time.)

“So! Now it’s time to learn the best move in a fighter's arsenal--- _ dodging _ .”

_ “What---”  _ Ichigo starts, but Kushina’s grin slides into something that has more teeth than necessary, and he doesn’t hesitate to shut his mouth and move when she says, “One, two, three, run!”

Kushina Uzumaki is terrifying and ruthless and strange---but Ichigo can’t help the flicker of pride when she grins at him after he successfully dodges one of the balls she throws at him.

  
  
  


Kushina looks at Ichigo, and she see’s a boy.

Kushina looks at Ichigo, and she wonders what exactly the world's going to take away to turn him into a weapon to win a war against a wanna-be-god.

(Kushina remembers the feeling of loosing everything and only being accepting because of what use she is.

Kushina doesn’t remember names or faces, but the aching loneliness of being considered a weapon and not a person eats at her even in death.

She doesn’t want that for Ichigo---for no child---she would shoulder the burden again if she had to but life isn’t fair and---)

“Lady.”

Kushina blinked, snapping her head down at the little, orange haired boy.

“I gotta go home now,” he says, eyeing her carefully. “My sisters need me to make dinner.”

“I told you to call me Aunty Kushina,” is her automatic response, then---

“Why are you making dinner? I’ve seen your bento.”

Ichigo scowls, but Kushina’s own puts his to shame. Ichigo may play it off, but she’s seen how most of his lunch of rice and burnt vegetables. Better than most kids, sure, but not the best.

And maybe this plays into Kushina’s plan, and maybe her brand of caring is vaguely more scary than others, but Kushina snags the back of Ichigo’s shirt with little warning.

“We’re going to the store,” she says firmly, dragging the squawking boy behind her.

  
  
  
  


“I told you, lady, I can make dinner by myself.”

“And I told you, brat, it’s Aunty Kushina to you. And i’m making dinner.”

Ichigo has that look in his eyes that Urahara often has when he’s questioning her sanity, but Kushina pays him no mind and bounces up to the door of the Kurosaki house. “Come on, dattebane! You’re so slow!”

Ichigo drags himself up, scowling, eyeing her one bag to his three.

(It’s strength training, Kushina said, dropping all but one bag in his arms. Plus it’s good for building character, what kind of man would you be if you left a lady to carry everything.

Bullshit, Ichigo thinks.)

Kushina practically throws the door open the moment Ichigo appears at her elbow, walking in like she owns the place. Ichigo once again looks like he’s questioning every life decision he’s made up to this point.

Or maybe he’s wondering what good deed he did to deserve such an awesome person like herself to come into his life.

“Ichi-nii,” a girl all of seven asks, peeking her head around a door frame, and Kushina can’t help but beam.

“Your sister is so cute, ‘ttebane!” Kushina coo’s, but refrains from hugging her in lieu of asking where the kitchen is. The girl flushes, but surprisingly she leads Kushina instead of Ichigo, who follows behind them.

“I’m Yuzu,” she introduces, smiling shyly as Kushina takes the bags from Ichigo and lays out the ingredients.

“Kushina Uzumaki, ‘ttebane,” Kushina grins. “You can call me Aunty Kushina like Ichigo-kun, though.”

“I do not call you that!”

Yuzu laughs, quietly, and steps a little closer to Kushina. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“You too, Yuzu-chan! Would you like to help me make my special Uzumaki ramen tonight?”

Yuzu beams, clearly excited, and Ichigo slowly backs out to see if he can find Karin and hopefully have some back up against the crazy red haired woman.

  
  
  
  


There's an unfamiliar woman in his kitchen.

Isshin blinks, watches as the red haired woman directs Yuzu in setting out the bowls as she carries a pot of something that smells suspiciously like ramen to the table.

His son and other daughter have been coerced into settling out cutlery along with Yuzu, but despite Ichigo’s scowl he doesn’t protest.

Isshin coughs, politely, but as soon as the woman’s eyes land on him he wishes he’d remained silent.

Her grin is sharp, eyes dangerous as she pats Karin on the head as she stalks around the table towards him. “You must be this tou-san i’ve heard so much about, dattebane.”

“Ah,” Isshin starts, but Kushina whirls back around, uncaring as her hair smacks him in the face.

“Now that everyone’s here, time to eat!”

(Isshin wonders if perhaps it would have been better if he’d stayed the night in the clinic.

But when he looks again he see’s the way she grins at Yuzu and the way she smiles back, how her and Ichigo snip and snap at each other without heat, how even Karin shares a smirk with her when she gets Ichigo flustered and speechless.

Misaki was the glue that kept their family together, and over the two years she’s been gone, they’d broken.

But Isshin remembers an old Japanese art of using golden lacquer to fix broken pottery, and this woman is certainly bright enough to be their gold.

Isshin smiles, a bit wryly, and joins them at the table.

It’s the best meal he’s had in two years, even if the red haired she-devil looks ten seconds away from eating _ him _ instead of the ramen.)

  
  
  
  
  
  


Kushina leaves the Kurosaki house full on ramen and with a promise to come back tomorrow to show Yuzu some more recipes, despite Ichigo’s protest. The girl has a knack for the kitchen, unlike Ichigo, and Kushina is happy to pass on her recipies.

Plus Kushina has grown fond of the little girl in the short time she’s known her.

But reality comes hard and fast, as soon as she turns the corner, there's a familiar black cat waiting for her in front of the shop. Kushina pauses, scowling, and for all her intentions are to ignore her she can’t help the bitter, “Fancy seeing you, Yo-chan.”

“‘Shina,” the cat greets, leaping up to nestle on her shoulder, hidden under her hair. Kushina wants to shake her off, but knows if she tries a clawed face is in her future.

“If Kisuke sent you here to tell me to leave the kid alone, ‘ttebane, the answer is fuck off.”

Yoruichi winces, knows that she’s only truly pissed when she uses that name, and settles a bit more against her neck. “Good thing I didn’t prepare a speech then.”

Kushina snorts. “Good answer.”

“I told him you were too stubborn to change your mind. You’re too good for us, ‘Shina-chan. That kids gonna have a hell of a support group with you in it.”

“You’re damn right, dattebane! Anyone who thinks they can fuck with my cute new nephew should be prepared for me to come at them with my  _ teeth _ .”

Yoruichi laughs, nipping lightly at Kushina’s ear. “Those bastards are in for a real treat, then.”

Kushina grins, all teeth and a familiar terror as she steps into the shop. Urahara isn’t there, but Tessai greets them with a small nod and Kushina’s grin softens to something a bit more fond in return.

“Yo!” Kushina says, plucking the cat-woman off her shoulder finally despite her protest. “Where’s the bastard hiding now?”

“Experiments,” is all Tessai says, and Kushina snorts again.

“Let's go to the hot springs!” Yoruichi cheerfully says, wiggling in Kushina’s grasp until she lets her drop, landing on her feet. “You can tell me what you’ve been up to while I was away.”

Kushina sweeps the cat back up in her arms, ignoring the offended yip she gets and books it downstairs. “Oh, Yo-chan! I have so much to tell you, ‘ttebane! You know Ichigo-kun has orange hair? Orange! And his sisters are so cute---little Yuzu-chan was absolutely delightful! I’m going back over there tomorrow to show her some recipes---”

Kushina doesn’t shut up until she’s stepping into the spring, and that’s only because Yoruichi transforms and dunks her to get her to be quiet.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of course, everything goes to shit eventually. Because why can Kushina ever have nice things?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the plot kind of ran away from me on this, and I've decided to delve into older Ichigo and canon a bit, so this is the last chapter with chibi Ichigo. The next chapter /might/ have a bit of him in the beginning, but this is the end of the chibi ichigo arc. Also um, Oops?

Kushina becomes a regular fixture in the Kurosaki house, much to Yuzu’s delight and Ichigo’s halfhearted complaints. Urahara still gives her disapproving looks, but stays silent, and Kushina stops trying to grind his face into the ground every chance she gets.

(Nevermind the fact he’s got that dumb, plotting look on his face. Kushina has never been good at following a script. Urahara might be a genius, a master manipulator, but Kushina is wind and fire fit to the shape of a whirlpool.

Kushina is the wild card, an unknown power, and as much as Urahara and the world relies on Ichigo to save them, they really should be watching out for the Uzumaki.

There's a laughing voice in the back of her head whispering,  _ the Uzumaki are powerful enough to take over the world, but they’re perfectly fine breaking it. _ )

It’s early in the morning when Kushina slides through the window, much to Isshin’s continued displeasure---he’s even offered to make her a key if it would get her to use the door---and the only one up is Yuzu.

It’s become the start of a routine, a tradition, for the two to make breakfast and prepare lunch for everyone. Yuzu is a natural in the kitchen, and she confided once in Kushina it makes her feel closer to her mother.

“Aunty Kushina!” Yuzu greets, cheerfully but quietly, mindful of the still sleeping occupants of the house. Karin is a real terror when she’s woken up before her alarm, Kushina has come to learn.

“Yuzu-chan,” Kushina grins, slipping her arm around the girl in a hug as she makes her way to the fridge. “What are we making today?”

“Omelettes!” Yuzu chirps, and Kushina’s grin widens.

  
  
  
  
  


Ten minutes later, Ichigo stumbles down the stairs, lured in by the smell, and Kushina gleefully greets him with, “Good morning Ichigo-kun!”

“Ichi-nii!” Yuzu says. “Good morning! Breakfast is almost done! Do you want to go get Tou-san and Karin?”

Ichigo makes a sound that could mean anything between an agreement and i’m dying, but turns and disappears back up the stairs.

Kushina snorts. “Cute.”

“‘M n’cute!” comes a shout from the stairs, slurred halfway beyond recognition, and Kushina laughs loudly.

“He’s _ very  _ cute,” she whispers to Yuzu, who giggles behind her hands.

Ichigo gives her the evil eye when he comes back down a minute later, muttering about red haired witches corrupting his sweet, innocent sisters, while supporting a yawning Karin with a half asleep Isshin stumbling behind them.

Despite Kushina’s initial dislike of the man, he’s grown on her, and she hands him a giant coffee mug with an amused grin.

He looks at her like she’s an angel from above, despite his frequent mutterings of her being a she-demon, and downs it all in one go.

“Why don’t you sit down with the rest of them and eat, ‘ttebane,” she tells Yuzu. “I’ll finish up the bento’s.”

Yuzu pouts, clearly wanting to argue, but Karin snags her elbow and all but throws her into the chair beside her. Kushina laughs.

It’s a rule Kushina set early on: no one eats until all the Kurosaki’s are at the table. Yuzu had tried to argue, saying Kushina should eat with them, but shot her down by saying she ate before she came.

( _ Plus breakfast is important, dattebane, _ she said. _ You should spend it with good food and family. _ )

Ichigo had given her an odd look after that, but Kushina had pretended not to see it, grounding her fists into Isshin’s head when he started wailing about how wonderful his family was to the poster of Masaki.

Even now, he shoots her that particular look before eating, pausing only to tell Yuzu how good the food is, causing her to light up. Kushina watches them behind her hair.

Family, huh?

  
  
  
  
  
  


It’s been a year now since Kushina has become an unofficial member of the Kurosaki family, and something breaks.

“You’re not my mom!”

Kushina freezes completely, heart stopping in her chest at the sight of the red faced Ichigo. Isshin had been called in for an emergency, and Kushina volunteered to watch the kids until he came back. Karin and Yuzu were already sleep, and it was just Ichigo and Kushina.

“What?” she whispers, incredulous.

Ichigo puffs up, but his eyes are gleaming with something suspiciously like tears. “I said you’re no my mom! Why are you trying to take her place? I--- _ we _ \---don’t need another mom!”

Kushina can’t help but flinch, curling into herself a little bit as her lips thin.

“I’m not trying to be your mom, Ichigo, I---”

“Yes, you are!” he shouts, and Kushina snarls in what she knows is hurt but pretends isn't.

“Listen here you little brat! I don’t know where you got this idea from, but I am not---and would never---want to be your mom!” Kushina says, harsh and firm and a part of her wants to smack herself when she see’s Ichigo’s face screw up more.

“Then stop butting into our lives and trying to replace her! You’re just some weird, lonely lady! We don’t need you!”

Something in Kushina just falters at that, and she’s out the door before he can say another word, only bothering to shoot Isshin a text saying something’s come up, and she’s asked the neighbor to watch the girls and Ichigo for the rest of the night.

(Later she’d find out Ichigo had overheard Yuzu telling Karin that sometimes she imagines Kushina as their mother, and how nice it is. It’s two parts hurt and betrayal that makes him act out, and the fact he’s afraid she’ll die like Masaki did to protect him.)

  
  
  
  


Of course, everything goes to shit eventually. Because why can Kushina ever have nice things?

  
  
  
  


It had been a week since she last visited the Kurosaki’s, a week since she let Isshin know that she was busy and wouldn’t be able to come visit for a while.

It was a week of moping in the shop and decimating the training grounds before Tessai firmly kicked her out to go to the store to buy them more groceries. Kushina had practically demolished the kitchen, and the actual candy part of the Urahara Shoten wasn’t fairing much better.

Kushina had always been very straight forward to a fault, preparing to face things head on with a smile that shows a little too much teeth and preferably with something sharp in her hands. It’s one of the reasons her and Urahara get along like oil and water, he’s a slippery bastard at the best of times, and elaborate schemes just make her head hurt.

That being said, when Kushina pictured Aizen as a problem, she always saw it happening as her coming straight to him.

Kushina forgot this is the man that has the whole of Soul Society wrapped around his finger, and even managed to pull the wool over Urahara’s eyes for a time.

( _ Reckless foul _ , she can already hear Urahara saying. Of course Aizen has eyes and ears on Ichigo. Of course he would act out against the chess piece he doesn’t remember setting on the board.

Aizen is a right bastard and Kushina  _ should _ have seen this coming, Soul King be damned she is going to rip him apart with her teeth first chance she gets.)

Between one second and the next  _ something _ shifts, warps, and Kushina doesn’t even have time to blink before the feeling of _ wrong _ comes sweeping over her.

Her breath catches, and she takes a step forward, out of her gigai, uncaring that she’s left it in the middle of the street, grocery bags forgotten, and flashes to the Kurosaki house. She knows Urahara and Tessai can take care of themselves, for all they’ve gotten lax since their banishment, they’re still powerful. No matter how many hollows show up, they can take care of themselves and Jinta and Ururu are terrors in their own right.

Kushina is more worried about the spiritually aware  _ human _ family she’s come to love, even if the orange haired one is being a little shit.

There's three Hollows she sees when she lands, and Kushina doesn’t even bother drawing her Zanpakuto, striking out with pure reiatsu fit to the shape of golden chains.

It’s a technique purely Kushina’s, one that’s fascinated Urahara to no end, and she doesn’t even care Aizen probably is watching her, gathering information, finding out her strengths and weaknesses, all she cares about is the family inside the house.

Kushina snarls with all the fury of a wildfire, teeth and vicious triumph as she watches the first hollow fall. She spins, lets her chains sweep, and knocks the second one into the third. They go down with a crash, snarls of their own, but Kushina curls her lip into something fiercely dark.

“Watch out!”

Kushina doesn’t turn fast enough to stop the fourth hollow from sneaking up on her, and she traps a rather impressive curse under her tongue as she gets her feet under her, snapping her head back to avoid the second sweep of claws, and draws her sword.

There's a clash, a shower of sparks, and Kushina slams her blade hard against the claws of the hollow until he stumbles before she vaults over it’s head, slamming her foot in it’s face as she flips. 

Ichigo is standing on the porch, wide eyed and trembling as he watches the three hollows gather, advancing on Kushina, the only barrier between him and them.

“Get back inside!” Kushina shouts, blocking, and slips sideways to avoid another set of claws, placing her hand on the arm of the hollow in front of her, snapping her knee in its face.

It howls, angry, and Kushina whirls, all steel and blood as she slashes its mask in half.

But one of them slams its tail into her back, causing her to stumble, and she winces as pain flares in her side from the other grazing her with its claws.

“Motherfu--” she cuts off, snapping her teeth and letting her chains reappear in a burst of golden light, smacking one hollow in the face and causing the other to retreat for the moment.

Ichigo is still on the porch, and Kushina wants to throttle the kid but---

“Where are your sisters? Isshin?” Kushina asks instead.

“Goat-face was taking them to a friends house.” Ichigo stuttered quietly, not looking away from the hollows slowly creeping forward. “They left about ten minutes ago.”

Kushina bares her teeth. “Fantastic.”

It’s a blur of red and steel and teeth after she throws herself forward. Kushina isn’t sure how long she weaves in and out of the hollows, keeping them from Ichigo, only that three get cut down to two, then one then----

**_“KUSHINA!”_ **

Everything goes to shit.

(In a past life, Kushina would throw herself in front of her newborn child, getting impaled through the stomach by the claws of the beast that she housed inside of her for years, only getting the chance to say goodbye to her child before passing on.

In the afterlife, Kushina throws herself in front of a hollows claws aiming for a boy who she’s come to love as a son in his own right, getting impaled through the right side of her chest.

She doesn’t die _ again _ but it still hurts like a bitch.

Both the impalement and the flood of memories that complete the life and times of Kushina Uzumaki, Kyuubi Jinchuuriki and Konoha shinobi.)

When Kushina opens her eyes again, she’s both Kushina Uzumaki the dead woman and the ninja. This recent revelation doesn’t stop her from groaning as she meets gray eyes hovering over her own.

“Seeing your face first thing after what I suspect is a coma, ‘ttebane, is not what I wanted.”

Urahara purses his lips, and Kushina cringes. “Sorry.”

“I told you to be careful.”

“I know, Kisuke. I’m sorry, what do you want me to say?”

Urahara pauses. “We had to wipe his memories.”

Kushina sighs. “I figured you would,” she admits, softly, but her lips thin as she see’s at the pensive look on Urahara’s face. “Kisuke?”

“You can’t see him anymore. At least not until it’s time.”

“What---”

“Your gigai was damaged. We made it look like an accident, an earthquake hit, you died.”

Kushina’s breath catches, and she sits up in a flash, ignoring the flair of pain. “Kisuke,  _ no _ .”

“I let him keep his memories of you,” Urahara continues, sighing, and stands. “Get some rest.”

**Author's Note:**

> POSES its honey back at ya again with ANOTHER FIC! but seriously, this ran away from me and demanded to be written right this second, screw my other WIPS. anyways!! always feel free to come bother me at kitsurama.tumblr anytime! especially if it's to scream about this au.


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